There's still a week left for Joel Klein to be taken out of Tweed with his coat over his head

At my farewell to Joel speech at the PEP meeting I was going to mention my 6-year old prediction but didn't feel like being that mean. Klein's deal with Rupert Murdoch whereas Klein will be profiting from policies he set as chancellor smells bad enough but in the "government is there to serve the corporation, real estate interests and the wealthy in general" political world we live in my prediction looks like it will go down in flames. I was sent this little tidbit about Pearson's "benevolent" foundation by a teacher:

I'm noticing that Pearson are the new darling publishers in the schools. I've been trying to figure out why and came across this:

http://www.pearsoned.com/press/2010/01/06/pearson-foundation-invests-3-million-to-expand-new-leaders-for-new-schools-efforts-to-transform-urban-schools.htm

 “New Leaders for New Schools has been a vital partner in helping New York City address the challenges of secondary school reform, and we look forward to continuing to work together successfully,” said Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. “New Leaders’ approach in recruiting, training, and supporting principals has helped move us closer to our goal of having a highly-effective leader in every school.”

 Oh, well, Pearson will make enormous profits by using its foundation to promote policies that will ensure they get a big piece of the pie. But we have been saying all along that the ed deform movement is all about wresting control of the stupendous money spent on education out of the hands of the public - a key piece is centralizing control of the schools into as few hands as possible - mayoral control is a prime example. Imagine if companies like Pearson had to deal with 32 separate school districts.

And then I always wonder about the relationship between Klein and Bill Gates. I haven't been around schools much but I was a tech guy since the mid-80's and from what I see, there are a lot less Macs than PC's - my district was all Mac but now seems much less so. It would be interesting to hear what other tech people have to say - any pressure out there over the years to get PCs over Macs?

And don't forget the $80 million (and more I bet) ARIS boondoggle. Can't we link the Citytime scandal to that? (See the stuff RBE at Perdido Street has been doing- How The CityTime Scam Worked)

Remember, there are only a few shopping days left to get those cuffs on Uncle Joel.

Afterburn

As scandal erupts and arrests are made, warning signs for CityTime fraud were there all along

---------
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/